Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a special address from Moscow on the occasion of an all-online edition of the World Economic Forum on 27 January 2021 urging better ties between Moscow and the European Union, declaring the Kremlin "ready" for an improved relationship.

Putin’s view about the future of European-Russian relations

Nord Stream 2 is a Russian-German gas pipeline project that connects both countries via the Baltic Sea. The pipeline construction is about to be finished, the gas supply contracts are signed, the German interconnection pipelines are built and operational, and the investment costs of about $11.5 billion are sunken. What is missing is about 160 kilometers of pipeline laid in the Baltic Sea. Only foreign sanctions on pipe-laying vessels prevent the project’s realization.             

Under Biden, the numerous political, economic, and strategic differences between Washington and Brussels will not just disappear, and certainly, there will be no return to the good old days of Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. Still, Biden, with his foreign policy experience and his inclination to compromise, will work diligently to restore transatlantic relations.

1. Antony Blinken, Nominee for U.S. Secretary of State ((Biden’s former National Security Adviser and Deputy Secretary of State in the Obama administration)
2. William Burns, Nominee for Director of the CIA (Former Deputy Secretary of State and U.S. ambassador to Russia  
3. Victoria Nuland, Nominee for Deputy Secretary of State for Political Affairs
4. Andrea Kendall-Taylor, Nominee for Senior Director for Russia and Central Asia in the future National Security Council
5. Kathleen Hicks, Nominee for Deputy Head of the Pentagon

Authors:  Sabina Fischer, Ivan Timofeev

The EU-Russia Expert Network on Foreign Policy (EUREN) brings together 40 prominent foreign policy experts and think tanks from Russia and EU member states. The members of this core group come from different cities in Russia (Ekaterinburg, Moscow, St. Petersburg) and from 14 EU member states (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden and The Netherlands).

Source: Politico (Category Influencers)

*Excludes appointments within the EU institutions

18 December 2020

• Zero tariffs and quotas on goods
• The end of free movement, meaning UK citizens will no longer have the right to work, live, study, or start a business in the EU without a visa
• Border checks will apply between the UK and EU member states
• There will be no hard border on the island of Ireland between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
• The UK will be able to further develop British fishing activities for at least 5-and-a-half years, during which time European fishing communities will be safeguarded

During the course of the year, entities here below have received new staff; some existing ones have been promoted while others have voluntarily left and others retired.
 

Fiat Chrysler and PSA merger (to be called Stellantis) is expected to occur by the end of the first quarter of 2021. FCA's controlling shareholder is Exor, the holding company of Italy's Agnelli family while PSA's investors are the Peugeot family, the French government and China's Dongfeng.

Authors: Iskander De Bruycker (Political Science, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands and Aaron McLoughlin (Senior Advisor, FleishmanHillard, Brussels, Belgium)

STEP 1: SITUATION ANALYSIS